Comoros, 2000

On

behalf of the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros,

I congratulate you, Sir, on your assumption of the

presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-fifth

session. I assure you of our full support and

cooperation in the accomplishment of your tasks. Your

skill and extensive experience in international affairs

convince us that this session will be crowned with

success.

I am honoured to take this opportunity to extend

our profound appreciation to your predecessor, Mr.

Theo-Ben Gurirab, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of

Namibia, for his outstanding management of our affairs

during the previous session, for his leadership role in

the General Assembly and for his spirit of effective

cooperation.

We also thank Secretary-General Kofi Annan for

his tireless efforts in the service of our Organization.

His wise approach to the important issues and the

reforms he is implementing in the United Nations

deserve our support and cooperation at all levels.

On behalf of the Islamic Federal Republic of the

Comoros, I also congratulate Tuvalu on its admission

to membership of the United Nations.

(spoke in French)

Considering the enormous responsibilities of the

United Nations in peacekeeping, the defence of human

rights and the promotion of social well-being, it is easy

to see why, 55 years after its creation, the Organization

still has a great deal to do. Given its varied activities, it

needs more solid and up-to-date structures that are

adapted to contemporary conditions; sufficient and

reliable funding; sound, transparent and energetic

management; and the ability to carry out its tasks in

conformity with current priorities and specific regional

concerns. The Millennium Summit further reaffirmed

our Organization's essential role in this respect.

That is why the United Nations new

organizational plan must allow it to respond to the

needs of today's world in the face of major upheavals

that inspire intense introspection and consideration. Its

reform is also necessary to guarantee sound and

reliable structures, with equitably distributed duties,

that will confirm its universal nature and ensure better

results. Thus, it is particularly necessary to open the

Security Council, the organ primarily responsible for

the maintenance of international peace and security, to

other countries, as permanent and non-permanent

members, in order to make it more representative and

to ensure that its membership and working methods

reflect present-day realities.

At a time when the world is evolving and

undergoing globalization, the island States and small,

poor countries with limited resources are preoccupied

by the threat of marginalization looming over them. In

addition to the various crises besetting our countries,

this state of affairs calls on us to address the urgent

need for support, assistance and, especially, awareness

of the dangers we are facing.

First are the dangers arising from the immediate

and long-term repercussions of the conflicts engulfing

the planet, claiming millions of victims, most of them

children, women and the elderly.

Secondly, there are the dangers posed to the

world by the ever-growing number of acts of terrorism.

In this respect, it is important not only to be aware of

the potential danger and to find effective means of

countering it, but also to draw clear distinctions

between and not to confuse the behaviour of people

who act in contempt of law and human dignity with

that of those who act primarily out of religious

considerations.

Thirdly, there are the dangers resulting from

flagrant violations of human rights. To combat this

problem, the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros

9

gives its full support to the implementation of the

International Criminal Court, which should put an end

to these abuses. The Republic is preparing to ratify the

Statute soon, and it hopes that the implementation of

the Court's jurisdiction will be effective.

Fourthly, there are the dangers resulting from

natural catastrophes and from the overall degradation

of the environment — the increasing vulnerability of

which is a source of serious concern for the world. The

small land-locked States — developing countries of

limited size — are particularly exposed to these

dangers. Given the increasing severity of this problem,

there is an increasingly urgent need to give priority to

protecting ecological systems.

Fifthly, there are the dangers posed by serious

diseases from which our populations are suffering —

diseases such as AIDS, malaria and many others,

extreme poverty included.

Sixthly, there are the dangers posed by the

marginalization of the poor countries in the midst of a

world undergoing rapid change, a world in which it is

hard for these countries to find their way.

Seventhly and finally, there are the dangers to

which these same countries are exposed as a result of

the external debt burden which absorbs a great deal of

their attention and wreaks havoc on their national

budgets.

This is to say that in this first stage of our entry

into the third millennium, there are many outstanding

questions regarding the future of humanity, and these

questions require careful consideration. The overall

image presented by the world today is a sombre one.

Also, as regards economic issues, it goes without

saying that the world is facing a situation that calls for

serious examination and for joint action by the

development partners to support national, subregional

and regional efforts.

In the case of Africa, its overall economic

problems are a source of concern because they have

become aggravated as a result of the increasingly

globalizing world and the great strain that external debt

is placing on our economies. Further, it makes sense to

be concerned about the future of a continent that has

been marginalized, in particular as regards global trade

and the information revolution, and afflicted by all

kinds of plagues. It is essential that — in addition to

the efforts of the individual countries and in the

framework of regional integration — the continent

benefit from the good offices of the international

financial institutions in examining and addressing

different problem areas. In this regard, I am pleased to

here reiterate our appreciation for the efforts of the

United Nations Development Programme to fight,

alongside our Governments, all forms of

underdevelopment.

As a small landlocked developing country and as

an African country, the Islamic Federal Republic of the

Comoros is grappling with these kinds of problems. It

cannot be denied that, despite our current situation, our

Government is manifesting a firm will in searching for

ways and means of lifting the country out of the hole in

which it finds itself and of creating favourable

conditions for improving the life of our society. The

effort under way to clean up the public finances and to

revive and restructure the national economy attest to

the Comorian Government's determination to improve

the socio-economic situation that has prevailed for

many years in the Islamic Federal Republic of the

Comoros.

Our bilateral and multilateral partners have

consistently supported these efforts; however, I need to

reiterate the necessity of enhancing this assistance in

order to help us meet the challenge of

underdevelopment and, above all, to help us avoid

falling victim to the perverse effects of globalization.

We should also focus on the political situation of

the world, which is today divided by various sorts of

wars and crises, which are seriously upsetting the

peace and security of peoples. Greater attention should

be given to these two crucial objectives — objectives

that form the very basis of our Organization — and

greater thought should be given to how to vouchsafe

them.

This is why, on the subject of wars, I would like

to appeal to the goodwill of the parties involved in the

problem of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and

in the entire Great Lakes region and to ask them to

focus their efforts on démarches that can produce

negotiated solutions to the disputes of these parties.

As regards Somalia, my country is greatly

pleased by the current happy outcome of the situation

there and by the establishment of a transition

Government. The Islamic Federal Republic of the

Comoros hopes that the solid foundations have now

10

been established so that a lasting peace can be secured

for this fraternal country.

In the same vein, the Comorian Government

appreciates the efforts made in the holding of the Camp

David negotiations and salutes the work of the

Government of the United States of America in this

regard. The Comorian Government, which has

supported and continues to support the Palestinian

cause, hopes that these efforts will lead to a speedy

resolution of the Middle East crisis — a resolution that

will be in the interest of the peoples of that region who

have so long suffered from incessant instability. The

Comorian Government also believes that any solution

to this crisis must include the establishment of an

independent Palestinian State, with Al-Quds al-Sharif

as its capital.

Further, we proclaim the necessity of completely

lifting the embargo against Libya, and also ask that the

embargo against Iraq be lifted. We appeal to the Iraqi

Government to cooperate more fully with the efforts to

free the Kuwaiti prisoners.

Conflict zones remain in all the continents. The

Charter of the United Nations having been written for

the peoples, the United Nations must enhance its

efforts to prevent and resolve conflicts by peaceful

means. In essence this means insisting on the urgent

necessity of supporting the cause of world peace,

because its absence handicaps all efforts to achieve real

sustainable human development.

In this regard, allow me to review the current

situation in my country, the Islamic Federal Republic

of the Comoros, and to explain how disturbed the

people are about the threat to peace posed by the

separatist crisis that has been taking place on the

sisterly island of Anjouan for close to three years. With

the support of the international community — in

particular, the Organization of African Unity (OAU),

the League of Arab States, the European Union, and

International Organization of la Francophonie, and the

Organization of the Islamic Conference — the Islamic

Federal Republic of the Comoros has explored every

means of putting an end to this crisis. The

intransigence of the Anjouanese party after the

declarations that were made during the inter-island

conferences that were held at Addis Ababa and at

Antananarivo have led the OAU to take repressive

measures against this party — measures that were to be

applied in a step-by-step fashion.

The object of imposing the economic embargo

against the sisterly island of Anjouan was to lead the

Anjouanese to be reasonable. However, the situation

has hardly changed, and during this time the lowest

levels of Anjouanese society — along with all those

who were supporting national unity — suffered terribly

from the effects of these measures. Recognizing on the

one hand that, given the hardening of the movement's

position, this situation was victimizing the population

of Anjouan, and particularly the poorest levels, and

convinced on the other hand that we Comorians

together might be able to come up with a non-military

solution, the current leadership of the country, under

the enlightened direction of Colonel Azali Assoumani,

President of the Islamic Federal Republic of the

Comoros, has insisted on undertaking direct

discussions with the Anjouanese party, in the hopes of

arriving at national reconciliation.

The attempts at initiating such a dialogue opened

the way to the signing of an initial text on 1 July 1999

at Fomboni on the island of Mwali. This text is

considered to represent a significant step on the part of

the current regime — a step towards harmonizing the

opposing points of view.

The negotiations were continued recently, leading

to the signing of a joint declaration, again in Fomboni

on 26 August. This provides another appropriate

framework for preserving the unity and territorial

integrity of the Comoros, to which the Secretary of

State for Foreign Affairs of The Gambia referred on 20

September. Because it allows dialogue to be initiated

with our Anjouan brothers on the future Comorian

entity, the declaration is of particular significance to

Comorians.

The Fomboni declaration makes it clear that the

new Commorian entity is the sole subject of

international law within the Comorian frontiers

recognized by the international community. In order to

push ahead with this process, a timetable was

established spelling out the various stages leading to

the submission to a referendum of the act which is to

govern the future Comorian entity.

I should like to make it clear that the Fomboni

joint declaration takes account of, and respects, the

spirit of the Antananarivo Agreement, which was

rejected by the Anjouan party.

Today, more than ever, there is hope that it will

be possible to resolve this unfortunate problem by

peaceful means and to lay the groundwork for a

democratic State — a Comorian-style democracy, a

democracy stemming from the living forces of the

nation of the Comoros, without any outside

interference or influence. Would it have been just to

reject this breakthrough, thus penalizing innocent

women and children who have been so sorely tried by

the embargo, and then to envisage a military solution?

If there had been resort to war in order to have peace,

why not avoid it, if possible, and so prevent casualties?

The Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros has

committed itself to dialogue to settle conflicts,

respecting the principles of our Organization.

This wise principle was the basis of the Comorian

authorities' approach to their brothers in Anjouan. I

therefore appeal for understanding by all our partners

who have always supported our efforts to find a

negotiated lasting solution to this crisis. This is why,

while respecting the position of the Organization of

African Unity (OAU) and that of all our other partners,

I reiterate, on behalf of the Government of the

Comoros, our determination to continue this struggle,

together with them, in order to preserve the unity and

territorial integrity of our country.

The Government of the Comoros pays tribute to

the Secretary-General of the OAU, Mr. Salim Ahmed

Salim, for his personal efforts and his efforts through

the OAU to resolve this crisis. We also express our

wholehearted gratitude to the League of Arab States, as

well as the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the

International Organization of la Francophonie, the

countries of the region and other friendly countries,

including France, for their support.

We earnestly hope that reason has finally

prevailed with our brothers in Anjouan and that they

have really understood that breaking up the covenant of

unity and fraternity which links us and will always link

us — Comorians of the four islands of our archipelago

State — will not benefit anyone.

We hope that we have all learned the lessons from

events which have so seriously affected the country in

human, material, psychological and other terms, and

that we understand that war will always be a bad

master and the worst choice. The process of

reconciliation is a demanding task requiring a great

deal of resources. In this connection, we make a

pressing appeal to the international community to

support the programme of reconstruction and national

reconciliation which the Comorian Government has

drawn up in conjunction with the World Bank.

Faithful to the fundamental principles of the

Charter, the Government of the Comoros continues to

opt for the policy of dialogue and discussion to resolve

all of the problems which confront us. With profound

respect for these principles, we appeal to France, with

which the Comoros has for long had close ties of

friendship and cooperation, to contemplate a direct and

constructive dialogue which will make it possible

quickly to reach a negotiated solution with regard to

reintegrating the Comorian island of Mayotte into its

natural community.

As stability, understanding, unity, harmony

among our peoples, partnership and progress go hand

in hand, creating conditions to guarantee these values

would be the best gift which the international

community can offer present and future generations on

the eve of the next millennium.

(spoke in Arabic)

“If people one day want life

Fate has no choice but to respond;

Night has no choice but to yield to dawn

And shackles cannot but be shattered.”